the total number of presidents. thank you, everybody, for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. hello, everyone. you're in the cnn newsroom. i'm fredricka whitfield. president barack obama and former massachusetts governor mitt romney are making their final push for the white house in these last two days before election day. the president campaigned with former president bill clinton in new hampshire this morning. obama also has florida, ohio and colorado on his schedule. this morning mitt romney was in des moines, and later today he'll rally in ohio, pennsylvania and virginia. stay with cnn. we'll have live coverage of all the action from the campaign trail. we'll have a team of reporters in the battleground states covering all the angles. so no republican candidate has ever won the white house without

winning ohio, and yet romney was right there campaigning in the battleground state of cleveland. jim costas is traveling with romney and joins us now. is romney crafting his message to democrats, by chance, in that democrat stronghold city to try to change their minds at all? >> reporter: he has been doing that, fredricka, in the last 48 hours of delivering his closing argument. he's made overt appeals to democrats out there saying if he is elected president, he will go across party lines to get the country back on track. what we're seeing today is mitt romney sort of bringing some closure to his long run for the presidency. he wrapped up his final western stop in colorado last night, and then earlier this morning, as you mentioned, he was in des moines, iowa. that was his last stop in the

central time zone. we're now in the eastern to him zone with mitt romney for the duration of his campaigning. he has been delivering that closing message to voters. part of that has been really aimed at the economy, saying the president will only bring four more years of the last four years. he likes it put that out on the campaign trail to voters saying, would you rather have what he calls real change. then the other thing that he is doing, fredricka, later on this afternoon you mentioned he's got two more stops. he's heading to the battleground state of pennsylvania next. the obama campaign has called that an act of desperation noting that that state has mainly gone for democratic presidential candidates in recent elections, but the romney campaign points to the polls that have been closing between these two candidates in pennsylvania, and they're noting the fact that president obama is sending perhaps his top surrogate, bill clinton, there tomorrow as evidence that maybe it isn't such a crazy idea. so it's going to be interesting to watch what mitt romney has to

say in a few moments from now here in ohio. his campaign in the state has run into some controversy lately with respect to an ad he has been running in the northeastern ohio area, talking about how chrysler is starting to build jeeps out in china. the obama campaign has gone after that ad calling it misleading, not mentioning in the ad that chrysler is still building cars in ohio, and in fact, expanding production in toledo, and the romney campaign has had some of its top seizure gats out on the sunday talk shows this morning defending that ad. it will be interesting to see if mitt romney touches on that subject here. last thing, fredricka, we are hearing some signs of confidence in the romney campaign even though they're slightly behind the president in a slew of recent battleground polls. they're saying they're going to win on tuesday, and you're hearing some talk inside the romney campaign that they feel they're going to win big, by at

least 300 electoral votes. the only way we'll know is by watching. >> it will be interesting to see if they work in the auto industry in some capacity. meantime, president barack obama is making his final push for votes today. he was in the battleground state of new hampshire today. in the next hour, he will be in hollywood, florida. brianna keeler is already there. what will he be saying? he won in 2008 but it's not so clear this time around. >> reporter: it's not so clear, fredricka. the polls are very close here between president obama and mitt romney, and when you look at the obama strategy, clearly ohio is playing a bigger role than florida is, though obviously the hope is to keep florida is president obama's column. the message is his closing messag message, that he will be saying to these people here, you may be frustrated with the pace of

change, but stick with me, you know we're going to the right direction. my economic policies are working, and you know what you're going to get with me, not so much with mitt romney. i can tell you this is a very enthusiastic crowd. we've been traveling where the president has been going for the last few days, and i can tell just that this is a crowd that already is very excited. and also i'm sure it doesn't help -- it's beautiful here, 82 degrees and sunny. we've seen people, and there's some people behind the camera that you can't see, they've been doing the wave, they've been yelling four more years, and it's still hours before president obama will be here, fred. >> is there any indication there that the crowd is made up of any real undecided or even some republicans? because if the president is feeling like, you know, this is indeed a swing state and he's got to appeal to the other side, if he's preaching to the choir, then what good is that going to do? >> reporter: well, i think pretty much when you go to a campaign event, he is definitely

preaching to the choir, and i would say the same is the case for mitt romney. these are not undecided voters. i don't think i'm going out on a limb to say that. but the message to come here to florida, it isn't just about reaching the thousands of people who will see him here, it's about the press coverage, it's about making florida a priority, and that's very key this time around, especially when you're talking about early voting. there is a controversy here in florida. early voting wrapped up last night, that was the last day, and there were long, long lines, fredricka. people who stood in line for hours, and so because of that, the democratic party of florida actually filed suit early this morning trying to get early voting extended. in 2008, early voting went for 14 days. this go-around is just eight days. florida's legislature, which is republican controlled, limited it, and it's also because early voting does tend to benefit democrats. the other interesting thing is it's sunday right now. in 2008 this would have been a day for early voting, and the obama campaign organized with a

lot of african-american supporters to go straight from church on sunday and go out to vote. that's not the case this year. so what you're seeing today is obviously this suit that is in place, but there are also some elected officials who have found a loophole in this law. absentee ballots, you can go to florida in person, request your absentee ballot, turn around and turn it in in person. so it's kind of like early voting although the ballot is treated a little differently. the obama campaign concerned about early voting. they want to make sure anyone who wants to vote, can, because there are a number of people who support them but they are not necessarily reliable election day voters, african-american voters, latino voters. >> brianna, thank you so much from florida. let's go back to ohio now, the

battleground state with paul ryan there now. >> i went to himiami, ohio. my friend is a guy who grew up here and a very intelligent young woman who works with me on my staff, nicole stoltz, is here with her family as well. i've been hearing about mansfield since i was about 18 years old. nice to meet you all. [ applause ] >> in our communities, we're taught that the american dream is there right for us, that we can make of our lives what we want to in this country. that's what we do. we go to schools like miami, ohio, and we graduate and we want an economy that has those opportunities for us. these are serious times.

we need serious solutions. that's not what we're getting from president obama, that's the problem. the president came in with so much promise, with such great rhetoric. you know what he said four years ago? he said, if you don't have any fresh ideas, then he used stale tactics to scare voters. you paint yourself as someone people should run from if you don't have a record to run on. you make a big election of small things. that's what he said four years ago when he ran for president, and that's exactly what he has become now that he is president. and the reason is really pretty simple. he has a terrible record to run on. he can't run on his record. 23 million people are struggling for work. people like we grew up with in our hometowns who lost that great job they had that paid them great wages with good benefits are in between jobs. we have thousands of citizens living in poverty today.

this is the highest poverty rate in a generation. we're 9 million jobs shy of where president obama said we would be if only he could borrow all this money and spend it on his stimulus program. look, it didn't work out the way it was promised. he said he would bring people together to solve the country's biggest problems. he said he would cut the deficit in half. he said he would create all these jobs. the deficits doubled. it's the most partisan atmosphere, it's the most divisive climate in washington i've ever seen and the jobs are nowhere near they can be. this might be the best job president obama can do, but it's not the best we can do. and i have to tell you, when the president said the other day that people should vote out of revenge, this is not who we are. mitt romney and i are asking you to vote out of love of country, because that's how we get this country back on the right track.

that's the big vision. look, if borrowing and taxing and spending and regulating and money printing works, we would have known by now. the obama economic agenda failed not because it was stopped, it failed because it was passed. let's remember he came in with his party in total control and thus came the war on coal, thus came the war on our energy jobs, then came the big new tax increase coming in january and all these new regulations and all this borrowing. when we look our children in the eyes, you saw ours, they're 7, 9 and 10 years old. when i was growing up, my dad used to tell me a couple of things. he used to say, son, you are either part of the problem or part of the solution. he usually said that to me when i was being part of the problem, but he also would say, in this country, each generation of

americans makes things better for the next generation. that's the american legacy. we, for the first time ever in this nation, we know without a shred of doubt we are con signing our children to a lower standard of living, to a burden of debt they can't handle. we can't do that. we have a moral obligation to deal with this now so that we can preserve the american dream and the american legacy for our children and our grandchildren and that is exactly what mitt romney and i are going to do. we are not going to run away from these problems. >> you're watching vice presidential nominee paul ryan there in mansfield, ohio. they will stay in ohio. we're still waiting for presidential candidate mitt romney who will be joining the crowd in cleveland, ohio. when that happens, we'll take you there live. be sure to join anderson cooper and wolf blitzer as they take a close look at the candidates' final push before the election in america's choice 2012,

countdown to election day. that's 8:00 p.m. right here on cnn. with a slew of new voting rules in many states, home monitors are being immobilized for this election. we'll tell you why. in new jersey, sandy is taking its toll on voting. i'll tell you how they're getting creative to get the ballots in. ng to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you. not only that, we're using what we learn from these partners to shape our curriculum. so that when you find the job you want you'll be a perfect fit. let's get to work. ♪ ♪

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in new jersey, people who were displaced by the storm will be able to vote electronically. governor chris christie says voters can e-mail or fax their votes. and we all know that ohio is one of the key states president obama and mitt romney are battling to win, and voting rights advocates there are already raising some concerns. the worry started after a report in the columbus free press that ohio's secretary of state john houston had, quote, experimental

software patches installed in voting machines in 39 counties. voting rights activists say the software could potentially impact more than 4 million votes. the free press also says the software was never independently certified or tested. as john lemon spoke to the secretary of state last night, they gave him a chance to respond to those allegations. >> we have a new election night reporting system. all we have is an ability for them to load the data into that election reporting system, and actually, it's so -- the reporting system and the actual accounting system are not connected in any way, and the results that anybody can get in their home on the computer, they're going to get them the same time i do on election night. so we have a very trans parent system that's brand new and will help people across this country, across the world, frankly, look right at our website and see what's going on. >> so nothing fishy going on. >> nothing fishy going on.

>> husted also said 1.2 million have already cast their votes. voting in ohio continues through monday. to keep voting fair, each side in the election, republicans and democrats, are sending out monitors to watch polling across the country. cnn's crime and justice correspondent joe johns explains what role they're trying to play. >> cincinnati, ohio, early voting comes to a close. >> volunteers across the country on election day. >> they'll be everywhere. they've trained people in 50 states to legally poll watch. >> reporter: lawyers and poll watchers of all political stripes descending on ohio and across the country in search of any issues that need to be challenged. >> we're looking for long lines that might be a result of machines breaking down, poll

workers that might be asking the wrong questions, asking for i.d. when they shouldn't be. >> groups like the left-leaning election protection have been training for weeks so they're ready to respond to any problems at the polls in realtime. >> with all the changes nationally in the voting laws, i think we're prepared for there to be a significant amount of confusion on election day. >> but controversy over how some of the organizations do their job, poll watching has become a partisan business. >> what do you think of the election protection people? >> look, they have problems. >> reporter: former justice department lawyer christopher adams now represents tea the vote, a tea party affiliated group with a simple goal. >> true to vote stands for election integrity. follow the law, period. >> reporter: but true to vote has real critics of their own from the left. >> true to vote has been consistently challenging the voting rights of legitimate voters. we must address anybody who tries to deny anybody that right

to vote. i consider it criminal, i consider it unpatriotic, and highly offensive. >> reporter: a claim adams does not take lightly. >> they're liars. they're bearing false witness against law-abiding citizens who are doing no more than observing the process, and they should be ashamed of themselves. >> reporter: whatever the election watchers find, it may ultimately be up to superlawyers like ted olson on whether to go to court. he led republicans to victory between george w. bush and al gore in 2000. >> i'm clearing my calendar just in case i need to be drid for the next five weeks. >> he said if they want to avoid litigation, they shouldn't change direction in the middle of the game. >> if you follow the rules that are in place on election day with respect to counting the ballots, then the presumptive outcome will be respected when the elected college votes are coming. >> what is happening with the

extension of early voting in florida? >> live fire litigation. this is over the right to vote in this election already in the state of florida, fred. the florida democratic party has filed a request for a temporary restraining order against the florida secretary of state and three county election supervisors. they want an order saying it's okay to allow absentee voting to continue today because the lines in south florida were so incredibly long yesterday, which was supposed to be the last day of early voting. but here's the thing. democratic sources tell us that several counties, we don't know how many, including palm beach, hillsborough, orange, leon along with miami-dade and broward, already saying they're allowing absentee voting right now. so it looks like they're basically trying to get the court to go along with them in what looks like a work-around. the problem is the state legislature also revealed a number of early voting days and the secretary of state has already refused to extend them. so it could be a fight. >> oh, my goodness, this is two days before election day so it's

already getting kind of hairy. thank you so much, joe johns. we're expecting mitt romney to speak in cleveland any minute now. i'll bring that to you live as it happens. let's say you want to get ahead in your career. how do you get from here... to here? at university of phoenix we're moving career planning forward so you can start figuring that out sooner. ln fact, by thinking about where want your education to lead, while you're still in school, you might find the best route... leads somewhere you weren't even looking. let's get to work. see life in the best light. outdoors, or in. transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it's meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit,

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all right, it's the final push. it's two days before election day and mitt romney is there in what is traditionally a dem skra -- democratic stronghold city. let's listen in. >> i'm very happy to introduce to you the very next president of the united states. [ applause ] >> she's quite a woman. she's quite a woman, i got to

tell you! [ applause ] >> thank you. boy, what a welcome. thank you so very much. you guys are fabulous, your voices, by the way, are being heard all over the nation and they're being heard loud and clear. [ applause ] >> ann and i hear them in our hearts as well. thank you very much for your support and help. i want to thank many of you in this room who are doing the hard work of the campaign, making calls from our victory centers and putting up signs in your yard or perhaps in your neighbor's yard and perhaps convincing a co-worker to vote for paul ryan and me. and now let's make sure that we get everyone to the polls either now or on tuesday. we've got to win this for america! [ applause ]

>> what makes this rally and all of your work so inspiring is that you're here because you care about america. this campaign is about america and about the future we're going to leave to our children. we thank you and we ask you to stay at it all the way, all the way to victory on tuesday night! [ applause ] perhaps there are a few members of your family and friends who haven't made up their mind as to who to vote for. i would ask them to put aside all the speeches and all the ads and all the attacks and look at the record. because, you see, talk is cheap. but a record, it's real, and it's earned with real effort. change not measured in words and speeches. change is measured in

achievements. so let's look at that record. [ applause ] >> let's see, four years ago, let's look at the promises the president made. he promised to do so very much, but frankly, he fell so very short. he promised to be a postpartisan president, but he's been most partisan, blaming, attacking, dividing. it's not only republicans he refused to listen to, he also refused to listen to independent voices. he was going to focus on creating jobs. instead he focused on obamacare which killed jobs. he said he was going to cut the deficit in half, but then he doubled it. he said unemployment would now be at 5.2%, and today, well, actually, on friday we learned it was 7.9%, almost 9 million jobs short of what he promised.

[ booing ] >> you think about this. unemployment today is higher than when barack obama took office. he promised that he would put in place a plan to save medicare and social security from insolvency. he didn't. in fact, he took $716 billion out of medicare to pay for his bond to obamacare. he said it would lower premiums on your health insurance plan. by 2005, it should be for a family by now. anybody seen this reduction? no, in fact, for an average family, it's gone up $3,000 a year. a gallon of gasoline is up 3.5%. he said he would work across the aisle on issues that matter most to the american people. do you know he has not met on ec